Today’s video topic is how to copy your existing Firefox bookmarks into Sharing Links. The process consists of two steps:

• First an export from Firefox
• Then an import into Sharing Links

Open Firefox, then click Bookmarks and Manage Bookmarks (you might need to scroll up if you do not see Manage Bookmarks at the top of your Bookmark list)

Then from the Bookmark Manager, it is File/ Export. Remember where you save your bookmarks.html file, because you are going to need to find it in step two.

Now, visit http://www.sharinglinks.com/importbrowser/ . (If you forget the name of the page, you’ll find it on the HELP page)

Click Browse to find your saved bookmarks.html file. Select your privacy option (we recommend Public whenever possible) and it a few seconds you will be redirected to YOUR Bookmarks page.

Add tags to apply to imported links. Check Use Folder Names as Tags if your bookmarks are organized in folders.
*If you import a single folder (without any sub-folders), you can not use the feature. You must have both a “Parent Folder” and a “Child Folder” in order to use the “Child Folder” names as tags.

Now is a good time to add tags. Start by clicking Edit, then by clicking on previously used tags, or entering new ones in the tag data entry field. End by clicking Save Changes.

This is the first in a series of videos about SharingLinks.com

Sharing Links is both an bookmark manager, and a community of teachers, parents and Surfnetkids.com readers. Once you have transferred your bookmarks to Sharing Links, you can access them from any computer anywhere.

Membership is completely free, you simply need to register.

There are three ways to add a bookmark (or favorite) to your Sharing Links account:

1. Type it in manually
2. Use the Sharing Links bookmarklet while you are visiting the page you want to save
3. Import your existing bookmarks.

To manually type in a bookmark, simply login, and click on Add Bookmark. The address (or URL) and title are the only required fields, but you may find adding a short description will help you remember what the site all about.

Whether or you not you choose to write a description, however, I urge you to use tags, and to use at least three of them. Tags are keywords that describe your link, and if you are accustomed to storing your bookmarks in folders, think of them as folder names. The difference between tags and folders is that a bookmark can have multiple tags. The benefits of tagging will become clearer as you use SharingLinks, but they include being able to discover other’s favorite sites and the use of the tag cloud, which highlights your most popular tags.

An easy way to re-use your existing tags, is to just click on them in the Popular Tags section. If you want to categorize your sites by grade level, it is helpful to pick a tagging grade system, and stick with it. The list of grading tags that I use can be found on the HELP page.

The last field is Privacy, where you get to mark your bookmark as Public, Private, or Share with Contacts.

Public bookmarks are visible by everyone. Private bookmarks are only seen by you. And Share with Contacts will be explained in another video (or you can look it up on the HELP page.)

When deciding whether to make a bookmark public or private, please keep in mind that SharingLinks is a community that is based on sharing, so please share as many of your own bookmarks (by marking them public) as appropriate.